wonder how on earth I did it before all those records were on the internet? . . . . and exactly how did my great-grandmother get all the information she did in the early 1900′s? It wasn’t all from Family Bibles!
Dad, taken in Washington DC abt 1925
My father died on 18 September 1990 exactly 2 weeks after his 75th birthday. We had all gathered in my home for the birthday celebration, not even realizing that we were celebrating his life and bidding him farewell at the same time! It was a happy occasion.
Two days later my parents left California on a trip to the East Coast. They went to Williamsburg, VA, where Dad became ill, and then up to Washington DC where they were to fly home. Dad was born in Washington DC, so, with Mother driving, they took a trip around the city, with Dad pointing out houses he had lived in, and where vacant lots had been that he had played in as a child. They went up to Maryland where they stayed with my aunt and Dad went through papers that he wanted her to ship to him. Family Bibles, newspaper clippings, old letters and pictures, lots of pictures, he wanted them all! The next morning he died . . . . . eerily on the 100th anniversary of his grandparents wedding ~ the grandparents who had raised him and the grandparents who wanted to adopt him! Dad went home to die.
Dad and Me, Fallbrook, California about 1979
When the box arrived from Maryland, Mother brought it to my home and said ~ and I quote ~ ” Your might as well have these. You are probably the only person who would be interested in this junk.”
Mother knows best! I have been fascinated with it. I have been overwhelmed by it at times, and most of all, I have been passionate about it!
- I have gone from PAF in DOS on a very antiquated computer to PAF 5.something on several computers around the house.
- I have gone from 3 generations to over 10 generations in several lines.
- I have gone from just names to names and their stories, thanks to those wonderful sites that post historical newspapers!
- But best of all, I’ve gone from a passion of collecting names to a passion of making sure that the names I collect are real people and they are my real people. . . . . and most of all that they are correctly documented as MY real people!
Where will the internet take me in the next 10 years?? I can hardly wait to find out!
This was the last gift my father ever gave me. I miss him so.
Friday, September 26, 2008 at 10:27 am
[...] Historian upon his death. He didn’t know it, but he did. I wrote about that in one of my blogs . I accepted the assignment willingly and have never looked back with [...]